Naval Research Laboratory and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Vehicles and Satellites Photography and Film

Scope and Contents

This .7 cubic foot collection of photography and film was gathered by Wilfred Deac during his stint as an information service officer with the Naval Research Laboratory and then with the Air Force at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), specifically with the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (CCMTA). The photographs consists of color slides and mostly 8 by 10 inch prints, both black and white and color. The prints include images of satellites and launch vehicles at CCMTA, including: Solar Radiation Satellites (SOLARD) such as GREB III; V-2 Bumper Project; Thor-Able Launch Vehicles; Saturn 5 Launch Vehicles; Snark Missiles; Aero Spacelines Guppies; as well as a few images of President John F. Kennedy's November 1963 visit to Cape Canaveral. There are also images relating to the Naval Research Laboratory's Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB) Intelligence Satellites Program. The two 16 mm color films are as follows: Gen. Hustons Briefing Film; and Briefing Film (Deac) ETR, April 1967; the films have accompanying scripts. There is also an article by Deac, entitled: "The Navy's Spy Missions in Space."

Biographical / Historical

Wilfred Deac worked as an information services officer with the Naval Research Laboratory during the Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB) Intelligence Satellites Program and Sugar Grove projects, serving as a bridge between the scientists and engineers who conducted the projects and the media. He then worked as a public affairs officer with the US Air Force at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) which was the primary launch site for the Air Force Eastern Test Range. Deac went on to hold various other government, as well as private-sector, positions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He was a civilian government official attached to the US Embassy in Cambodia in 1971, and he has written Road to the Killing Fields published by the Texas A&M University Press, 1997. He currently works as a freelance writer.